Sanding stations of the before-mentioned type are known in various forms. They can be implemented with sanding belts running transversely or longitudinally to the transport direction of the workpiece. Several solutions are known for guiding the sanding belt and the pressure segment belt over rollers. Basically they differ from one another in that either the pressure segment belt and the sanding belt partly use the same deflection rollers or the pressure segment belt and the sanding belt use different deflection rollers. In the first case, the displacement of the two belts as a result of the different radius of the neutral fiber on the deflection rollers is fixed, whereas in the second case optionally different speeds can be set for the two belts and thus the displacement changes as well. Moreover, in this second case, it is known to orient the segments of the segmented belt diagonally with respect to the running direction of the segmented belt so that excessive running noise is prevented since a sanding contact on longitudinal edges of the workpiece does not take place abruptly.
Further, a sanding station is already known in which the wide belt running parallel to the transport direction of the workpiece is guided over three rollers, the segmented belt running within the sanding belt over two of the same deflection rollers and a separate third deflection roller. As a result, it is achieved that the segments of the sanding belt always come into contact with other sections of the sanding belt, however, the ratio with which the segments displace themselves relative to the sanding belt remains fixed so that after a certain running distance, the same segments will encounter the same point of the sanding belt. A desirable change in the sanding surface by changing the displacement is not possible. Further, the irregular wear on the segmented belt which normally occurs is likewise unfavorable since sanding machines of this type are usually never used uniformly over the available working width. Therefore, segmented belts having the width of a wide belt cause high costs and do not offer process-related variation possibilities.
With the forgoing problems and concerns in mind, it is the general object of the present invention to provide a sanding station of the type mentioned at the beginning, in which the sanding belt and the segmented belt can be driven independently of one another such that there results a uniform wear and that the operation can be performed with a cost-efficient design of the segmented belt.